With working patterns changing to allow for a far greater flexibility in home-office commutes, the traditional daily routine of morning-to-evening is no longer the widespread norm.
Today, many of us only go into the office two or three times a week – especially true for those who can handle their clients from home.
Are you driving your car for business use, however? Perhaps using it to visit those clients, or travelling to more than one office location.
Though a standard pleasure, social and domestic use insurance does cover you commuting to a single office every day, it doesn’t cover you for client meetings or ad-hoc journeys as part of your working life. If you use your car for more than basic family life, the chances are you need business class insurance.
Business car insurance is absolutely critical if you use your car for work. While it is more expensive than standard car insurance, without it, using your car to visit clients or do other work-related activities will mean you are uninsured with all the legal issues that accompany it. You may well be driving uninsured without realising it.
It is important you get the right level of cover for your use – on no account lie to an insurer about your vehicle use as this can lead to the invalidation of any claim and even prosecution.
When you apply for your business car insurance, it is important that you tell the insurer everything to enable them to give you the right level of cover.
Usual questions, such as your age, occupation and location are as much a part of business level insurance as standard insurance, but additional questions pertaining to your business use and how you use your vehicle will also be asked.
You should also make sure it is clear that you use your vehicle as your day-to-day car too, enabling the insurer to correctly insure you for personal use as well as business use.
Usually, business insurance comes with a second driver as part of the cover, so your spouse or partner may well benefit from full insurance as part of your policy.
Business insurance comes in two main flavours:
It is extremely important that you obtain the right level of cover and let your insurance company know all the facts as any incorrect information could lead to the insurance being invalid at the point of making a claim.
Online comparison sites are a great way to find cheap business car insurance. Remember the factors that can go into determining the cost of premiums (car model, no-claims bonus, security of parking etc.) and do what you can to optimise your insurance by changing the things you are able to alter in your favour.
Remember to accurately estimate your mileage – as a business user, you are likely to have a greater level of mileage than the average personal insurance.
Estimate as accurately as you can by using your previous mileage records.
